Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut coming this summer

Mass Effect 3—the concluding chapter of Bioware’s epic sci-fi saga—is due to get an expanded ending this summer with a free DLC pack.

Many fans were left dissatisfied with the original bittersweet ending options, but Bioware hopes to fix that by fleshing out the endgame with new cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes designed to give fans a ”deeper insights into how their personal journey concludes’. Executive Producer of the Mass Effect series, Casey Hudson, also added ‘We have reprioritized our post-launch development efforts to provide the fans who want more closure with even more context and clarity to the ending of the game, in a way that will feel more personalized for each player.’

Scheduled to arrive sometime this summer, the Extended Cut will be available for download on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC for free until 12th April 2014.

Comments

Everything about the announced Final Cut DLC is simultaneously horrble and brilliant.

The content of the announcement will fracture the fanbase, enabling Bioware to divide and conquer. By making it free, the people who were demanding only that it be free are satisfied. By providing closure, the people who only wanted closure will be satisfied. By doubling down and standing by the existing ending, the people who argued on the side of "artistic integrity" will be reinforced.

This will pit all of the above against the most important group: the ones who said that the ending is terrible, for reasons which have been already established in countless epic forum posts and video deconstructions. (And make no mistake, the ending is terrible, and clarifying it is like polishing a coprolite.) Those who insist that the ending is terrible will be increasingly marginalized.

The timing of the announcement is tactically smart as well. By doing it the day before PAX, they have destroyed the ability of the fanbase to show a united front at PAX. The waters are sufficiently muddied that they have a decent chance of making it through PAX without any ugly incidents. Anyone who stands up and says "but the ending is terrible" will be shouted down in a chorus of "but the extended cut will be free" and "they are clarifying it for us" and "you are not respecting their artistic integrity." All the panelists need to do is sit back and smile, and let the shattered fanbase do their work for them.